Costly Rail Project Boondoggles Still Fascinate Politicians
It’s been more than a century since the legend of railroad engineer Casey Jones became a ragtime music hit. Now, in this second decade of the 21st Century, railroads are hardly the stuff of legends; yet they continue to hold a strange fascination for political leaders searching for ever more creative ways to spend taxpayers’ dollars.
In recent years, advocates of taxpayer-funded transit projects, including one of its biggest cheerleaders, President Barack Obama, have told Americans that “investing” in rail projects around the country would “get the nation moving again.” The rhetoric may be intriguing and the sentiments laudable; but the price tag for such nostalgia is staggeringly high.
Take for instance California’s planned high-speed line. The original cost estimate for just the first section of the line running 178 miles from Merced to Bakersfield, was $7.1 billion – nearly $40 million per passenger mile. But wait – there’s more. The Associated Press reported last week that costs for the line will be dramatically more than the earlier estimates — anywhere between $2.9 billion to $6.8 billion, pushing the total cost of the line to $10 billion to $13.9 billion. This computes to an astronomical pre-passenger-mile cost of between $56 and $78 million.
Roelof van Ark, chief executive of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, explained to the AP that the higher estimates for the rail line “are now realistic and fair.” He also acknowledges that the price tag for the entire planned system will cost more than the original $43 billion price tag.
Likewise, the Obama Administration has called the line “sustainable” and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid recently said that “it would be so short-sighted for California – the most populated state in the country – to walk away from the bonding capacity they already have, some $10 or $11 billion, because of what they think the cost might be.”
It is this cavalier attitude toward spending American taxpayers’ money that has caused our nation – and states like California – to rack up trillions of dollars in debt with no end in sight. Clearly, this rail line has become a taxpayer-funded boondoggle, despite what its apologists say.
On a slightly smaller scale, Georgia politicians are preparing to sucker Peach State taxpayers into funding rail projects as part of next year’s “TSPLOST” — a one-cent sales tax increase that will raise billions in spending cash for political leaders.
Among the frequently mentioned projects that could be used to sell the tax hike to voters is a $1.2 billion light-rail line in Cobb County that will take 15 years to build and at least $10 million to operate. If history is any guide, this line will see costs increase substantially and the government will keeping comeback to taxpayers for more money.
The legend of Casey Jones may have dimmed in the past century, but the costs for ill-conceived and poorly-planned rail projects have become legendary in their own right.
By Bob Barr – The Barr Code
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90 comments Add your comment
Darwin
August 17th, 2011
12:20 pm
We know how about Republicans hate Federal spending – like stimulus and earmarks. Just ask Gov. Perry.
Fred
August 17th, 2011
12:30 pm
To “Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will crush the heads of the perverted New World Order integrationist crowd and their devilish black minions “:
Once again you have demonstrated that you are either off your meds or need to have the dosage increased. Please seek the nearest straight jacket or rubber room available.
Supreme Being
August 17th, 2011
12:49 pm
To “Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will crush the heads of the perverted New World Order integrationist crowd and their devilish black minions “
Thanks for posting your remarks. It is great to have participation from folks like you that make the knuckleheads look brilliant. Keep up the good work!! You will soon be King Moron of Idiotville.
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will crush the heads of the perverted New World Order integrationist crowd and their devilish black minions
August 17th, 2011
1:05 pm
If Americans believe politicians are primarily fascinated by giving taxpayer funded projects and otherwise to businesses etc in the interest of National, State, or City progress only, with no criminal economic strings attached for personal gain, then I’ve got a golden bridge in Valdosta Georgia that I want to sell you.
Amen?
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will crush the heads of the perverted New World Order integrationist crowd and their devilish black minions
August 17th, 2011
1:18 pm
Deborah White of about.com said, …New York Senators Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer quietly inserted into Senate health and educations appropriations H.R. 3043 and earmark for $1 million to fund the Museum at Bethel Woods, which is devoted to the Woodstock festival.
Nine days after the earmark was inserted, the main backer of the museum donated $9, 200 to Clinton’s presidential campaign…
Amen?
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will crush the heads of the perverted New World Order integrationist crowd and their devilish black minions
August 17th, 2011
1:24 pm
The economic crimes that politicians commit against our nation for personal gain are so great that Americans don’t have the guts or the vision to address them. Americans would rather turn a blind eye and hope it all goes away.
Amen?
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will crush the heads of the perverted New World Order integrationist crowd and their devilish black minions
August 17th, 2011
1:27 pm
Former president Bill Clinton, who came to the White House with modest means and left deeply in debt, has collected nearly $40 million in speaking fees over the past six years, according to interviews and financial disclosure statements filed by his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.)
Amen?
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will crush the heads of the perverted New World Order integrationist crowd and their devilish black minions
August 17th, 2011
1:32 pm
Former president Ronald Reagan got 2 million dollars for two 20-minute speeches to a Japanese communications company in 1989–I guess it really does pay to run for political office, federal, state, or local government.
Amen?
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will crush the heads of the perverted New World Order integrationist crowd and their devilish black minions
August 17th, 2011
1:39 pm
After all of that stimulus money that Obama and his crew has tossed around, and much of it vanished in thin air, just think of how much nations, corporations, groups, and persons are “offering to pay” them for speaking engagements after leaving office.
Amen?
John
August 17th, 2011
1:40 pm
Looking over the list of approved projects.. can someone tell me how improvements to the McCollum airport tower in Cobb County is going to improve transit.. Do any of you commute by plane?? Am I missing something here??
Grasshopper
August 17th, 2011
1:42 pm
^^^^Somebody’s tin-foil hat is too tight.^^^^
Aquagirl
August 17th, 2011
1:55 pm
^^^^Somebody’s tin-foil hat is too tight.^^^^
Somebody’s too lazy to do even the slightest moderation on their blog. I guess the free market is supposed to take care of that while Bob cashes his AJC check and heads for the golf course.
This is why the Libertarians get 2% of the vote, it’s become a catch-all excuse for laziness, greed, and all sorts of undesirable behavior.
nathan
August 17th, 2011
1:57 pm
Lol @ John!
republicans suck
August 17th, 2011
2:02 pm
The only good republican is a dead one.
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will crush the heads of the perverted New World Order integrationist crowd and their devilish black minions
August 17th, 2011
2:13 pm
Attorney General Eric Holder said that the United States is a nation of cowards when it comes to race relations…
I don’t know whether Holder is right or wrong in his assessment. But I can tell you that some Americans, oftentimes subversives, are using the media in an attempt to confuse and misguide patriotic Americans.
Amen?
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will crush the heads of the perverted New World Order integrationist crowd and their devilish black minions
August 17th, 2011
2:30 pm
Subversives in America are asking the powers that be to use the Main Stream Media to block out the pro-America message of Congressman Ron Paul. Because most are wholly inadequate to intellectually challenge him, they seek to deceive the ignorant by saying his ^^^^…tin-foil hat is too tight. ^^^^
Amen?
Roberto
August 17th, 2011
2:57 pm
We get all these Sidewalk superintendents and wannabe experts on spreading misinformation about High Speed Trains, when they don’t even know what high speed is.
They do not have any ideas what a passenger mile is and the figures they throw around are in their head not knowing what it means.
A passenger mile is the cost M/O divided by the miles of RR distance divided by the amount of passenger travelling in one year, i.e. 10 million you divide that figure into 10 million.
There is an engineering co. in Lake Spivey that knows what they are doing and already have an Inter City Express/Commuter Line engineered from near the Airport to Macon – Savannah.
They are far ahead and the Counties and some Cities are already lined up, The Rail Line is basically established and all without State monies. I also heard that they are in the process to build some Urban Rail Lines and Trolley Bus lines along that area.
and word has it, that all the equipment is Non polluting and non smelling and quieter and far less expensive to operate than the antiquated diesel and ng. being used in the Atlanta area.
They are negotiationg to bring the assembly of Trains, Trams and Trolley buses into their area of operation, creating employment for a lot of people.
If you think you’re cheaper operating your car, think about.
Since the gas is going up (and up and up), waisting time on the highway, using tires, changing oil, pay for repairs, cleaning the car (once in a while,) parking fees and on top of it you have to spend $20-30,000 to buy the car + interest, (so you can spend all your money on the things mentioned).
All of this makes it more attractive to use Transit, where you can relax, no stress, no smell, killing your lungs, no wasting time on the highway, arrive relaxed more enjoyable.and a lot less expensive.
Roberto
August 17th, 2011
3:00 pm
Oh I forgot; The Inter City Express Line is on the EAST SIDE of I-75 and has nothing to do with the Atlanta-Griffing-Macon line
Cynthia Tucker
August 17th, 2011
3:02 pm
Aquagirl…don’t forget to pick up my dry cleaning when you get off the bus.
Peter
August 17th, 2011
3:05 pm
You want “staggeringly high” price tags? Wait ten more years (when we’ve run out of gasoline).
Common Sense
August 17th, 2011
3:53 pm
“creating employment for a lot of people…”
What you are really talking about is employment shifting.
Look around on your next drive. Look at all the businesses that are changing oil, replacing tires, fixing dents and repairing mechanical parts.
All of these businesses are paid for by the people that use these services directly.
And you propose a system that must be federally subsidized by folks that do not use the system.
So when you have use the tax dollars of all those folks in the auto industry to put them out of work, what are you planning to do with them?
Unemployment for 99 weeks and then what?
dbm
August 17th, 2011
4:41 pm
We need separation of state and transportation. Then everyone would have to pay for their own and the decisions would be made by market processes, not political processes.
Hillbilly D
August 17th, 2011
4:58 pm
Atlanta used to have street cars and trackless trollies when I was a very small kid. They took them out because of low ridership and because people thought the overhead grid system for the trackless trollies was ugly.
New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, etc have mass transit sytems that work but there are more people in a smaller area. It’s about geography and population density.
real john
August 17th, 2011
5:01 pm
I’m all for SOME light rail if it makes sense. Perhaps from midtown to Cobb and Gwinnet probably does make some sense (although I would have to see the numbers).
However, when people compare Atlanta to N.Y, Chicago, Boston, San Fran, it is comparing apples and oranges. Those are much older cities that have condensed population bases therfore mass transit makes much more economic sense.
Cities like Atlanta, L.A., Houston, Dallas, Phoenix are much newer cities (I’m speaking in terms of when their populations took off) and are MUCH, MUCH more spread out so mass transit becomes VERY expensive. In NY the trains may only run a few miles. Running a train from dowtown to Gwinnett is like 20-30 miles. Thats a lot of track to build.
If the tax passes a combination of transit and roads is the only solution but the ones on here who expect Atlanta to have the same mass transit as New York or Chicago are living in a dream world. It would literally probably cost hundreds of billions of dollars to put the kind of system those cities have here due to the sheer radius of Atlanta Metro.
MrLiberty
August 17th, 2011
5:08 pm
LA had a wonderful system of electric trains that went EVERYWHERE. So did most major cities in the country. Then during the 40’s and 50’s the scum from GM, FORD, CHRYSLER and others bought off the city councils and convinced them all to tear up the tracks and buy BUSSES – conveniently built by them. Of course we know how well that went. Instead of small, functional trains that served the public we ended up with expensive busses that went nowhere. Now cities like LA are laying new track for electric trains that go nowhere (at 100 times the cost of course).
Get the central planners out of the picture. dbm is right – we need separation of transit and state. They have screwed it up enough already.
kim
August 17th, 2011
9:36 pm
I am originally from Illinois. I lived in the suburbs of Chicago as a young adult and took the commuter train, into the city for my job, every day. They have double decker cars that travel into Union Station and out of the city in all directions. You park your car at the nearest train station to catch the train.
It was great. You can buy daily, monthly or yearly passes. On the way in or out of the city, I did not have to worry about traffic, I could work, read, even take a nap. Once in the city I walked to work (13 to 14 city blocks), which was excellent excercise or took a cab.
Building more roads is not going to help. We need commuter trains.
Chip in N Ga
August 18th, 2011
7:14 am
Politicians are fascinated with mass-transit boondoggles for three reasons. First, it lets them placate the loony screaming activists by appearing to “do something.” Second, it lets them reward unions and fellow cronies and brothers-in-law with lavish piles of taxpayer money. Third, these boondoggles allow liberal politicians and liberal activists to indulge in their Stalinist fantasies of controlling other people. (After all, scratch a liberal and you uncover a control freak.)
Liberals hate highways because a network of highways allows private citizens to get in their private cars and go where they want, when they want. This, of course, drives liberals crazy. Forcing people “out of their cars” and onto centrally-planned, and grossly limited, mass transit makes the liberals smile.
THAT is the real core of the transportation debate — FREEDOM. I grew up in metro Atlanta, and the only people I see screaming and crying and ranting about the traffic are the local media and urban liberals. Those of us in the suburbs accedpt traffic as reality and deal with it. We consider it minor sacrifice to live farther out in better conditions.
As for Atlanta being “held back” from being a ‘world class city” — that has nothing to do with the traffic, and everything to do with the bungling, inefficient, unresponsive, and hopelessly corrupt Third World quality city government, which is a pathetic joke, and the rampant violent crime that the city chooses to ignore.
GB
August 18th, 2011
7:44 am
I saw today’s news about a proposed high speed rail between Chattanooga and Atlanta. NOBODY WILL EVER USE IT. You can drive from downtown Atlanta to downtown Chattanooga in about two hours. And have a way of getting around when you get there. And come and go when you want to. Why do they need money to study this?
nelson howard
August 18th, 2011
9:33 am
I like the railroad. I rode the train to Columbus, Georgia when i was at Ft. Benning. Back then they had to shovel the coal into the boiler, it was an experience. The food was a guy walking around with sandwiches. Let us face it Atlanta was created as the transportation center of the south. Why would there not be a fascination with the railroads. Why Frederic Remiington rode the train through indian territory. Which reminds, me there is a museum in Ogdensburg, N.Y. dedicated to the life and times and paintings of Frederic Remington, I was up there last night for A St. Lawrence U. reception, it was grand
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will crush the heads of the perverted New World Order integrationist crowd and their devilish black minions
August 18th, 2011
10:10 am
Chip in N Ga,
Flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but it was Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who is in heaven.
Amen?
Shabootyquiqui
August 18th, 2011
12:43 pm
…“investing” in rail projects around the country would “get the nation moving again.”
And Atlanta’s new $70+ million downtown trolley to nowhere will get the little handful of tourists who want to ride it moving again.
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will crush the heads of the perverted New World Order integrationist crowd and their devilish black minions
August 18th, 2011
4:20 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDWTpp0jQo8
MasterOfNone
August 18th, 2011
4:47 pm
For transit to work in Atlanta or anywhere else, it has to be significantly faster or cheaper (or both) the driving/biking/walking to the same destination. Given those requirements, mass transit DOES NOT WORK for most people in Atlanta metro. Period.
Example: I want to go from Doraville to Roswell… a 7 or 8 minute ride in a car along I285. Can I do it in 7 or 8 minutes using MARTA (NO). Can I do it is 20 minutes using MARTA (NO). I might be able to do it in an hour.
Trains work in Tokyo and NY city because there is a grid/network of underground trains that allows for a “kind of” straight shot to a destination. And traffic is bad enough that the subway is faster than driving and parking. If MARTA had an underground network already in place, mass transit would be a no-brainer. But Atlanta is a “spoke and hub” train AND roadwork system that is a nightmare to support via mass transit. Getting from point “A” to point “B” is RARELY faster on MARTA. In fact, it almost always takes at least twice as long. As long as this is reality, you can expect rail to fail, and you can expect mass transit referendums to fail.
The Metro Atlanta TSplost WILL fail. Gwinnett county gets almost nothing from this tax in comparison to it’s size. Clearly, Dekalb, South Fulton and Clayton are the winners. I don’t expect Gwinnett, North Fulton, Cobb, Cherokee to be generating the lion’s share of the revenues but getting little for their tax.
last
August 18th, 2011
4:52 pm
We need trains now just as much as our founding fathers needed trains, but in 1776, the train hadn’t been invented. No, it were a couple of generation X’s later in 1825 B4 folks had trains to get to work in. The train is great because there are no back seat drivers and they donts lets womens drives ‘em.
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will crush the heads of the perverted New World Order integrationist crowd and their devilish black minions
August 19th, 2011
5:16 am
Before we can adequately address our problems here at home, we must understand what we are dealing with.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO24XmP1c5E&feature=fvwrel
Amen?
Tom Whatts
August 19th, 2011
9:48 am
Cool blog with great info
Costly Rail Project Boondoggles Still Fascinate Politicians | The Barr Code – Slinking Toward Retirement
August 19th, 2011
7:26 pm
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